Ep. 370: A glimpse into an OFS vacation

Welcome to the Secret Sauce of Outsourcing podcast that's dedicated to making you better at working with people in the Philippines. This is episode 370, a glimpse into an OFS vacation. So I actually haven't spent very much time in the Philippines. I've only been there once. It was in 2010. I took my family on vacation. We spent five weeks on a vacation island in the Philippines. The island is called Boracay. It's probably the most common beach destination vacation in the Philippines. In fact, when I brought my team members there in 2010, a number of them told me this. You made my dreams come true. I've always wanted to go to Baraka, and that was awesome. We helped them do it, and it was an awesome vacation for us. While I was there, I learned a bunch about the culture of the Philippines. But again, that was 2010. It's 2024 now. A lot of culture hasn't changed, but some things have. So over the years, I have learned a whole bunch of culture from my team members, from talking with them, from them writing newsletters for me, and me reading them and being like, wow, I didn't. I didn't really know this. So let's talk about vacations in the Philippines. So for a lot of people in most places in the Philippines, it's really easy to get out of the city and just get away. So unless you live in a really big city, which Manila would obviously be an exception to that, Cebu is also a big city. Although Cebu is still pretty easy to get out of. Davao is a big city, but again, still pretty easy to get out of Davao. But so, like, most of my team members are in the Visayas or in Mindanao, and they live. A lot of them just live a few minutes away from a beach. And I've had quite a few of them tell me that they'll take their laptop and go to the beach and work. It's an easy solution to when you get bored from working from home, you can go to the beach, you can go to a resort, you take your mobile Internet connection and you can work wherever. If you have kids, you can take your kids, have them play at the beach while you're working. Now, I don't understand this. I understand this is like a dream situation and it's not real for a lot of people. But for a lot of my team members in the Philippines have told me this is what they do. Not all the time, but it definitely happens. So what about those living in Manila? So for those in Manila, Tagayte is one of the closest holiday vacation destinations that you can get to. And in Tagetey the weather is cooler than in Manila and almost everywhere you have a view of Taal volcano, which Taal is one of the most famous volcanoes in the Philippines. It is an active volcano, it erupts, it caused all kinds of problems a few years ago, but it's also famous because it's on an island inside of a lake, which is another island inside of a bigger lake. And because of that you can safely look at this active volcano from a distance. So a while back I hired a new writer and I've talked about her in the past and I had her write about a vacation that she recently took to Tagete. So here's what she says about it. I'd like to share a peek into my work life as an ofs, showing how it's been an amazing journey that benefits me and those who hire Filipino workers like me. I live and work in Manila, but every once in a while I go to Tagayte, which is a couple hours away to relax and work there. My favorite spot is where I can view the Taal volcano. Now if you're watching this on YouTube, hopefully you can see a picture here. Wow, this is like super foggy picture. But that's what she sent and she says now that photo was in the evening and you can't see anything from that except for the cold, foggy nightlife of Tagete. You'll see the breathtaking view later. Why do I adore working with the Tal view? Because it keeps me focused, reduces stress and sparks creativity. A peaceful environment does wonders for my work quality and personal well being. It gives me inspiration and a sense of tranquility that keeps me motivated. Isn't it more comfortable working in my home office? Yes, but the change in scenery is what recharges me to keep me going. Knowing that I can work almost anywhere makes me grateful for this job. As long as I have an Internet connection and enough juice for my laptop, I feel like I can overcome any challenge. It's a win win scenario. I work in a place I love and John gets a dedicated and motivated worker leading to long term success. And as promised, here's a picture of my beautiful view of Tal from my room in daylight. Now again, if you're on YouTube, hopefully you get to see this. She finishes wishing you all a productive, inspired day. So now let me add something to this. In the Philippines, hotel rooms don't have to be super expensive. In fact, when we were in Baraka, I know this was 2010, but my team members insisted on staying in a hotel that was like five to eight dollars per night. We tried to get them to stay in a place similar to where we were and they wouldn't have it. They just wanted to stay it super, super affordable. So hotel rooms don't have to be super expensive. If your OFS works from home, which obviously most of them do, they are then free to go and work somewhere else, which is really, really nice. Last My son, who is I've talked about quite a few times now on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Philippines, is actually really close to Tal right now. The area where he is serving, he can see Tal and has sent me multiple pictures of it. It really is amazing. So I was excited when I got this from her saying, oh, she's on vacation looking at Tal. Well, so is my son. He's not on vacation. He's working really hard but looking at the same thing. Really, really cool. If you're interested in hiring someone like my writer Siegs or hiring someone to do SEO or social media or lead generation or whatever it is for you, onlinejobs PH has the largest database of Filipino workers anywhere online. It's super easy to find someone. It's even easier to hire someone and you can find really, really amazing, talented people. Onlinejobs PH.